The home of the second largest giant tortoises that inhabit this enchanted archipelago is Santa Cruz Island, and today we are ready to learn about this fascinating species and their behavior.
Charles Darwin Research Station and the National Park Breeding Centre - these two institutions together have managed to save the giant tortoises of the Galapagos from going extinct, and are where we started our activities today. The breeding center is where the program started back in the 1960’s with the Española sub species. Numbers were going down due to the presence of introduced goats and donkeys to the island. Goats will forage the vegetation leaving the tortoises not only without food, but also without shelter. After years of research and a lot of work, the program has been successful; today over 1,800 small tortoises have been repatriated to their island of origin and are reproducing in the wild.
Before lunch we went to the sugar cane mill, where we tasted some of the products grown by the farmers of the island. It was a wonderful way to spread the benefits from tourism and learn how the local people live in the Galapagos. After lunch we explored the highlands looking for the chelonian porteri, which is the species of tortoise found on this island.
Our hunt was successful; we found many individuals actively roaming around and feeding on the lush vegetation of the island. The tortoises we found were very big, weighting around 500 pounds. Walking with these incredible friendly creatures and a bit of drizzle made the scene very dramatic, and we were transported back in time… when the tortoises roamed the islands on their own.
